We know cars kill foxes whether adults or young. One thing that never gets mentioned are the two other ways they are killed and basically through people being lazy.

We have had cubs drown in paddling pools in garden and not even with fresh water in but old water that no one is going to sit in anyway. Young cubs are curious and climb up the side of a paddling pool then fall in and in a panic exhaust themselves trying to get out until all energy is gone and they drown.

Always the same from the householders: "Oh, we're devastated. We came out and the little thing was floating in the water!" Well, the cub would have been alive if they had not had the attitude of "Can't be bothered emptying it just yet". A child or even someone who was drunk and walked into the garden then fell in and drowned. There are enough cases on record for that.

If you are not using a paddling pool DO NOT leave it overnight or for days: EMPTY when not in use. I won't show images of any drown cubs here.

The other item in the garden, school playing field etc is netting. Until the 1990s it was standard practice for caretakers or groundsmen to put nets up at night every night. Laziness has taken over since that time. Badgers, deer and particularly foxes have all fallen victims to netting left5 down: "we were devastated to find the poor animal hanging dead in the nets" and where the animal has not died it requires a wildlife rescuer to get to work. DO NOT totally cut free an animal and let them run off and, yes, idiots told not to have done that in the past.

Animals can get constriction injuries that need to be checked and wildlife care given -paws and legs can be lost although the UK is not great on wildlife care so a leg injury often results in the animal (otherwise perfectly healthy) being put down. If a rescuer gets to it in time the animals can be saved but if your grounds person was too lazy to be bothered putting the nets up then please do not get upset and in a panic because parents and kids will soon be turning up and will see it. I think parents should see how poorly their child's school is maintained.

Then we have the public. Buy nets with all sorts of games but after five minutes it gets boring so guess what? It gets chucked by the side of a shed, a fence, bushes and then they are "devastated" as their kids went out to play and there was a dead fox cub strangled in its efforts to try to escape.

In the United States wildlife faces the same problem and even coyotes get stuck in netting. It is all because people are just too bloody lazy and do not give a damn about anything other than not having to tidy away.

In Bristol in the last week we have had three (reported) net cases that Sarah Mills (the Bristol Fox Lady) had to respond to.

Cub 001 how this one did not strangle itself is a miracle. It was freed and taken to Vale Wildlife Hospital in Gloucestershire, the nearest rescue. It did have constriction so it was in the balance but it survived.

Cub 002 is from today (28th May) it was so terrified and trapped that it even started biting through its toes. Its ultimate fate is undetermined.

Cub 003 was, again, lucky not to be choked to death and there would have been nothing the vixen could have done. This one survived but it was very close.

In every drowning or netting case it is always the same "we are devastated" which, of course, does absolutely no good to the drowned or choked cub or its mother that probably went frantic trying to save it until it was too late. The householder or school is "devastated" -well excuse me if I do not give a damn about how they feel. Their laziness WAS the reason the cub was injured and died or drowned.

You can help by signing the current petition on sportsground netting and you can also make bloody sure that if you have netting loose in the garden or a paddling pool full of water that the make sure they are safe overnight.

Require by law all sports netting to be tied up when not in use

We want the government to make it a legal requirement that all sports netting on sports fields, in schools and domestic gardens is tied up to prevent ensnaring wildlife and pets. Make it a fineable offence for the net owners not to do so.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722303?fbclid=IwY2xjawKj1p1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETE0RjR6YmVETng3UDFaRE1wAR4KZ4480oaw0vWLkyBRlROcZFA6qGVZFV7YmQ19NwnzT4-Camm2JUWwbX7wQA_aem_00b85762frlaejCMauAKlw

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

Human Laziness and How IT Kills and injures Foxes and other wildlife

Require by law all sports netting to be tied up when not in use

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